The year of 1994 was marked by the first IRA ceasefire and in the Republic by the collapse of the Fianna Fáil-Labour government over the appointment of a High Court judge. In both cases taoiseach Albert Reynolds was centrally involved and the latter appointment of attorney general Harry Whelehan led to him resigning from office … Read more
We need your help now Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open. You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough. If you’ve seen value in our reporting, … Read more
A young John F Kennedy was “apathetic” to partition and was “inclined to belittle the cause” of Irish unification. The 29-year-old Kennedy returned from the second World War as a hero having saved the lives of crew members of a patrol torpedo craft boat in the Pacific Ocean when it was rammed by a Japanese … Read more
1. James Joyce’s family sought to have his body repatriated The Government wanted to find out exactly what was involved in the proposal to bring home the body of the Dublin-born poet, novelist, and literary critic who had died in Zurich in January 1941, at age 58, following complications from surgery. Though deeply tied to … Read more
Stakeknife Revelations Rock Republican Movement: Confidential Records Reveal Trauma and Paralysis Confidential records have shed light on the devastating impact of Stakeknife revelations on the republican movement in Northern Ireland. The unmasking of Stakeknife, a British agent operating within the IRA, sent shockwaves through Sinn Féin and left leaders “paralysed and damaged,” according to TheJournal.ie. … Read more
Gardaí were also urged to increase security around Dame Street, Dublin, amid fears of clashes between Nazi sympathisers and communist groups. Secret documents revealed as part of the State Papers by the National Archive revealed that the government wanted tight security around the premises for the film showing — with undercover gardaí also monitoring the … Read more
Papers given to the Irish ambassador in London purported to prove that the remains of WB Yeats that had been returned from France by the Irish government could not, in fact, be identified as the poet’s. After the poet’s death in January 1939 at Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, he was buried in a cemetery there. Once the second … Read more
We need your help now Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open. You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough. If you’ve seen value in our reporting, … Read more
Thousands of declassified documents are being released this week from the archives of Dublin, Belfast and London, bringing new insight into Irish events, politics and personalities of times past. Dublin’s archival material focuses mostly on documents which have turned 30 years old this year, centring on 1994. Here are eight things we learned from the … Read more
Russian president Boris Yeltsin’s infamous no-show at Shannon Airport was a big news story in 1994 and newly released archive files shed much new light on the background to the incident. Taoiseach Albert Reynolds had cut short his visit to Australia to be present on the tarmac when the presidential plane carrying Mr Yeltsin was … Read more